London sees massive influx of foreign money

November 5th 2009 0 minutes Less than a minute read

The UK commercial property market has seen an enormous rise in the amount of overseas investment over the last few quarters.

This growing trend has been most noticeable in London; one analysis suggests that over 80 percent of commercial property investment in the capital in Q3 of 2009 was made by foreign investors.

The investors are predominantly American and German, and a number of new funds have been created with the specific intention of taking advantage of the earning capacity of high-end London properties, after the recession wiped almost half off their values.

In addition, the weakness of the pound has brought further incentive to overseas investors. Two years ago the pound was worth more than $2 but has fallen around 20 percent to $1.6 since then. It has also dropped 25 percent against the Euro from almost €1.5 to around €1.1 in the same period.